ARTIST BIO

Carrese was born and raised in the South Bronx by her mother Deborah Ann Mullins. She is Eastern Cherokee from Red Clay, Tennessee. She was encouraged as a young child to be creative and art was a part of her everyday life. Her influences were her grandmother who was a doll maker and painter and her mother who studied fashion and always encouraged her to use our imagination and creativity. At an early age Carrese learned beadwork and other traditional arts and has danced at powwows since the age of 5.

While attending Junior High School, Carrese participated in a special arts program, to prepare her portfolio for Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts. Here she studied college level drawing, painting (water colors, oils), ceramics, calligraphy, art history and printmaking. In 1992 she graduated from LaGuardia High School and went on to attend the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)in Santa Fe, New Mexico majoring in both printmaking and painting. At IAIA she was able to further develop her printmaking techniques and worked on a series of prints that told a story of how she learned how to make dolls from her grandmother. At IAIA she was encouraged to explore her Native culture and express this through her work.

Returning to New York City she began working at the American Indian Community House Gallery as the gallery assistant to Joanna Osborne Bigfeather, then curator. Careese later moved on to another department in the agency and began working for the Communications & Information Department. She has been the managing editor of the quarterly newsletter, American Indian Community House Community Bulletin, and director of the Communications & Information Department for nearly 10 years.

Carrese with founding partner Sylvia Lamar, opened “Native Sisters Harvest”, a catering company in 1997. In 1998, she presented a cooking segment on the Food Network. Carrese is currently attending Culinary Art School at the Art Institute of NYC, New York Restaurant School.

Carrese Gullo has spent the last 17 years expressing and creating work that reflects her Native American heritage. Her art has always been a part of her life whether it was traditional Native arts, painting, drawing or mixed media.

Native Sisters Harvest, Carrese's catering company, was interviewed on Martha: Martha Stewart's Living Radio Show live on Sirius Satallite radio March 17th 2008. The interview centered around the caterer's unique Native cousine and was hosted by Mario Bosquez.

EXHIBITS

National Museum of the American Indian-Smithsonian Institute, New York NY, Student Exhibition, 1991

Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe NM, Student Exhibition, 1994

Public Library City of New York City, 2001

American Indian Community House Gallery, New York NY, “New York Mix,” 2005.


TRADITIONAL NATIVE ARTS INSTRUCTION WORKSHOP/ DEMONSTRATION

Moccasin Making, American Indian Community House Gallery, New York NY, 1998

Moccasin Making, National Museum of the American Indian-Smithsonian Institute, New York, NY, 2005